Are the Trail Blazers TRADING UP for Donovan Clingan?! | Blazers Uprise Live

Are the Trail Blazers TRADING UP for Donovan Clingan?! | Blazers Uprise Live

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] what’s going on everybody Welcome in Blazers uprise live here on a Monday night this is the first stream of June what’s going to be a very important June for both the Trailblazers in the NBA we got the finals starting next Thursday so next stream we will be able to talk about that and the draft is almost here it’s less than a month the draft will be taking place on June 26th and June 27th so we got a ton of draft talk today we’re going to talk about the lack of workouts regarding the Portland Trail Blazers we’re going to talk about the Blazers potentially trading up for Donovan kingan what might that look like and would that be a mistake we’re going to talk about the 14th pick we’re going to talk about the draft time being officially announced it’s on two days this year and I’m also going to discuss some risers and fallers and see if Eric has any but first we gotta see how Eric’s doing chat Eric how’s it going not too bad how about you Tori it’s good it’s good I spent some time with my family stream going live a little bit late because of that but uh you know got to get time in for the fam and now I’m getting time in with uh the chat the Colt you know the Blazer uprise Colt over here so uh if you cultists out there want merch it’s below it would make my day we got hats we got shirts we got all sorts of stuff that you can get your hands on those sweatshirts look good those sweatshirts look good I need me one I need me one I keep forgetting to order every stream I’m like I need I need one I need one and then I forget after the stream honestly um but man Eric I’m looking forward to what we have to talk about today um first first I know this is a topic you wanted to talk about but we kind of talked about last stream you want to get into finals predictions real quick yeah sure uh so Dallas versus uh Boston I think it’s a really good matchup pretty excited for the series to start kind of bummer that there’s been a week in between it but um yeah I I think it’s going to be good matchup and uh I’m I’m on record as saying I think Dallas is going to win yeah this is just fascinating to see if Boston can finally get it done but the momentum is with Dallas I took the Celtics before the playoffs I’m not as confident in that pick in this series as well but I didn’t think I would predict the finals right going with Boston and Dallas but for those of you that watched our playoff predictions before the postseason right you can go back and find them and see what my Western Conference Finals was I was cooking a little bit I was cooking a little bit so I need to put a prediction on the record right now because I’ve been on one we’ll see if my preseason predictions were better than my predictions right now because I’m going to flip that prediction I’m going to go Mavs in six Mavs in six I think Luca is going to be the best player in this series and that goes a long way and I think Dallas’s role players are up to the task I think Derrik Jones Jr is a good body to throw against either Jason Tatum or Jaylen Brown and then the front Court that’s going to be a very fun battle I’m looking forward to the match UPS I’m looking forward to the star power I’m looking forward to the story lines this is going to be an extremely fun NBA finals and we’ll see if Dallas can get it done we’ll see if Luca can catapult his name into best player in the league talks because you win a ring if you’re Luca this year and doing some of the stuff he’s done in the postseason it’s going to be hard to deny him belonging in that conversation you know he has tough names to beat out with joic Giannis hopefully he’s healthier next season but this is a great opportunity for Luca to put his stamp on the league you know everybody’s looking at Anthony Edwards as the new face of the NBA uh some people adorned him as after that second round beating of the Denver Nuggets but Luca put a stop to that and before Anthony Edwards the next face of the league was supposed to be Luka donic maybe it will be we’re going to find out with this NBA finals I’m looking forward to it yeah well I think people know the next face a little too early um I mean joic isn’t that old and he won a title that last year too but um yeah I I don’t know Taylor says Celtics been by far the best team The League All Season which is true I don’t know why Dallas is the trendy pick uh it’s not trendy I mean Boston struggled with uh a team even though they swept them you could argue they should have been down 13 in that series um and they found a way to win so you got to give them credit but it’s not like they’re clicking on all cylinders right now I feel like Dallas is yeah who’s chat’s wondering who the X Factor is I think the X Factor is PJ Washington for Dallas if he can make shots if he can come up with big plays that’s going to mean a lot I was tempted to say you know Gafford Lively but I feel like you know what you’re going to get out of those guys whereas PJ Washington a little bit more volatile but when he’s playing well this Dallas team is very very good and very hard to beat when he’s camping in the corner making threes when the defense collapses on Luca because listen if you collapse on Luca you also got to collapse on livelier Gafford because if you don’t that’s just a lob over the top of the defense so Luca’s and Kyrie’s drives open up a ton of corner threes for PJ Washington so he’s my ex-factor to this series he has to knock down those shots yeah obviously um por Zing’s health is a pretty big factor in this series if he’s healthy um that is uh someone who can draw Lively and Gafford out of the paint and open that up so that might be an X Factor but I think it’s uh I think it’s Drew holiday cuz he hasn’t had the greatest playoffs but we know he’s capable of doing a lot will his defense will he be able to shut down one of Luca or Kyrie or at least um you know not let them go off if he can kind of neutralize one of those two and give them anything offensively I think Boston has a pretty big Advantage there yep we’re going to break down game one Thursday looking forward to that but uh now we get into the draft talk man and I love draft talk this time of year especially this year’s draft with how much both of us and our community has paid attention to prospects in this year’s draft so I really enjoy reading chat’s thoughts on this so any player we talk about leave your thoughts in the chat just because we don’t read off a ton of chat messages doesn’t mean we don’t read them while we’re streaming so participate in that live chat first topic of business draft times I asked Eric before the stream I was like you saw that they announced draft times and he had two words one was a letter and the second word was that okay so can you put two and two together chat Eric what are your thoughts let me yeah let me let me let me actually say the times let me say the times okay for those of you who don’t know and this is going to be pacific time because West Coast is the best coast 5:00 p.m. Pacific time for round one on Wednesday June 26th fine good Thursday second round on June 27th start time 1 pm Pacific Time stupid man yeah so this is exact crap I was worried about when they freaking switched split it up into two days not even the NFL’s dumb enough to do it that early in the day like yeah and also they do it going into two a weekend isn’t round one Thursday so then round two is Frid round two through four is Friday it’s a little bit later and then rounds 5 through 7 or is it 4 through 7 I don’t know is on a Saturday at least so that makes sense but this middle of your workday Eric are you even going to be able to be there for the second round I don’t think so I don’t know I I don’t have vacation time anymore so I don’t know that’s a bummer dude I’m so mad yeah I think you’re going to get sick around that time I’ll um I’ll get sick just to like we we’ll like play basketball or hang out or something and I’ll pass it on to you okay I don’t know um we got to get you sick or something we got to get you for that second round we gotta get you with that celebratory oric Chi reaction Alex W say say driveway is covered in yeah yeah pull an a pull an a there it’ll be 90° um yeah this is this is on a Thursday it’s not Saturday it’s Thursday um I just it feels like the NBA said we know no one watches the second round so we’re just going to make it so no one cares about it at all now like it’s it’s so stupid dude like it’s weird I don’t part of me wonders if the move to the second round or the move to a two-day draft had something to do with Brony right and maybe that’s me being a little bit too cynical but part of me wonders if the NBA wanted the drama about is brony going to get taken in the second round and where is he going to get drafted for longer than you know a few minutes right because the draft in previous years always segue straight into the second round now you’re going to have approximately 16 17 hours before the second round starts after the end of the first so that’s going to be some time for speculation and this and that but I just don’t understand why they couldn’t have just made it later just scheduling stuff with the NBA this season made no sense yeah because you not only do you have the draft lottery on Mother’s Day which made no freaking sense they moved it to a Sunday when it was always a like a Thursday or something Tuesday Yeah Tuesday you know always a week day in the evening they moved it to Mother’s Day at like 12:00 p.m. which was just ridiculous um but not only that it’s the draft day the second round of the draft is a Thursday they’ve always had the draft the entire draft on a Thursday starting later than that and gotten in two rounds right now they only have one round to get in on a t on a Thursday and they push it earlier doesn’t make sense so I don’t know exactly what the plan’s going to be maybe I’ll solo stream it but that’ll just be kind of weird especially if I’m updating Graphics cuz I rely on Eric a lot when I’m just you know updating selections and stuff the good news is this layoff time will allow me to prep that stuff for the second round and we’ll just have two separate streams um but man it’s it’s rough it’s rough so I don’t know exactly what we do for that second round hopefully you can figure something out yeah I might be able to ask my boss if I can leave early yeah um fingers crossed maybe bribe him maybe maybe stupid why do I have to do that though why NBA why are you so dumb like this is yeah this makes no sense dude like the people that you have a group of people that would have watched it no matter what time it was on as long as it wasn’t yeah in the middle of the day yeah and you put it in a a time where now not everyone can watch it that wants to watch it for the most part and I know some people work at night so I’m not saying there’s a perfect time to have it but you know all sports for the most part are in the evening and events are in the evening not in the middle of the day especially TV coverage because what are these talk shows that would be on at 1 pm Pacific what are they going to talk about this time of year there’s no football what mini camps OTAs like they’ll find a way to talk about that because you can always find a way to talk about the NFL but you know baseball these talk shows don’t want to talk about baseball until after the All-Star break they’ll talk a little bit about the deadline and then once playoffs roll around then they’ll start talking about it so they’ll be talking about the draft anyway they would maybe get people intrigued enough to watch the second round that maybe we’ll watch the second round if they’re hanging out watching these talk shows and then the die hards like us work for you obviously just just brutal timing there doesn’t make sense the NBA needs to uh schedule things better next offseason no Lottery on Mother’s day and just if you’re going to have a a draft start the second round later the second round is going to go quicker than the first round you have only 28 picks cuz two got forfeited and I think the timer’s a little bit quicker not sure but so first R draft time but you know I’ll I’ll be here at the very least to bring you the second round and we’ll be here to bring you guys the first round now if the Blazers had no picks you know it maybe wouldn’t sting as much but we enjoy streaming the second round anyway no it would thing for me no matter every second round pick or no second round picks but like man the start of the stream Blazers got 34 40 we’ll see if they move either one of those but you’re going into that stream with a lot of anticipation so we’ll see what we can figure out I mean the second round doesn’t even have as much time between picks or are they changing that this year they they they’re extending it a bit but it’s not as long as the first round I still don’t think right yeah I don’t remember I so it’s go way faster like it’s probably going to take they’ll probably find a way to stretch it to like two two and a half hours because they they find a way to stretch out anything so it’s going to end at 3:30 like that’s so dumb yeah it’s weird it’s weird bro uh gray that’s not correct this year that was last year why do people do this it’s so dumb am I visible did I get Shadow banned come on dude if you were nobody would see it also why would we Shadow ban you you’ve hung around through all your Dame criticism and you’re still here right like what just come on let’s have a little bit of Common Sense here anyway the draft is at 8 Eastern Time on Wednesday 5 p.m. Pacific for the first round Wednesday June 26th and then Thursday June 27th 1 p.m. Eastern 4 or 1 p.m. Pacific 4 p.m. Eastern so different time for round two which is on a different day now anyway Eric there’s been a little bit of a lack of workouts only three draft workout sessions for the Blazers so far kind of strange given that they have the 7th 14th 34th and 40th picks they’ve worked out some guys for those second rounders they’ve worked out three players for the 14th pick Jaylen Tyson he might be a second rounder um a lot of draft boards still have him as a second rounder I think if the Blazers get him they’re they’d have to take him at 14 I think that’s his proper range but Jaylen Tyson kware and then there’s somebody else that worked out that’s in that range who was the other like top guy that the Blazers worked out that I’m forgetting chat or Eric who’ you say where Tyson and there’s somebody else that I’m blinking on Tyler Smith Tyler Smith yeah Tyler Smith although he could fall to the second but he’s kind of like the same as Jaylen Tyson where I could see the Blazers taking him 14 not a single guy not a single guy has worked out for the seventh overall pick Eric is that weird or is it still too early to think about that well we went through this last year they they weren’t bringing in any guys they brought in scoot um they brought in Brandon Miller they brought in the Thompson Twins I think that was it for pick three right and then like everyone else was like Fringe second round like undrafted guys and we’re like well they’re obviously Trading 23 right because they’re not bringing in anyone for workouts they didn’t have Chris Murray in for a workout um so yeah it’s just I don’t know man like so I forget who it was I think it was hiking you know there was the Portland media was all talking about like someone posted a I think it was holdall posted something that was like just because a player works out for team doesn’t mean that they’re interested in him or that they’re going to draft him so don’t go too crazy um and then uh hiken responded by saying but Portland has a history of drafting players they worked out for them and then they also get a profile on a player and add that to their profile when they work out and get some information on players not just for this draft but in the future if you’re going to trade for them or sign them you know four or five years down the road so um it’s kind of weird if they just don’t do any workouts uh for some of these guys at all and I don’t I don’t know man this organization doesn’t make sense to me Tor yeah so you know the no work out for Chris Murray thing has me I don’t know maybe a little bit worried that they’re just going to be weird about this pick I mean it’s the seventh overall pick in a draft with no consensus you absolutely have to work out players for that and it could be some of these players are working out for some of the higher picks right you got Houston Washington um I’m blanking on who has the fourth pick but uh San Antonio right a lot of players would probably love to go there and play with wemy they got the fourth and eighth pick so that’s a destination and maybe they’re going to filter through Portland a little bit later in this process I’m not keeping track of workouts that heavily for other teams just paying attention to what Portland’s doing here so I don’t know but you definitely got to do your due diligence and the fact that they didn’t work out anyone for the 23rd pick last year implied to us last year that oh they’re going to trade the pick they’re not working out players for this pick and then they just draft Chris Murray and say we like them and in my opinion it was clearly the wrong pick clearly the wrong pick at the time and I still feel the exact same way right now so I’m interested to see you know interviews with some of these top prospects at Portland Trailblazer work out um and I’m just interested to see who they actually work out I don’t expect Stefon Castle to work out I don’t expect Zachary ret to work out here I don’t expect Alex SAR to work out here and you know a Rob Dillingham any guards maybe not but everyone else Ron Holland Matas buellis t Salon any other forward you can name Cody Williams that might go in the top 10 the Blazers should 100% be working out and it would be strange if they didn’t work out all those guys so we’ll have to wait and see but it is something it is something to pay attention to I feel like tomorrow they’re going to work out like three of those four guys I just named or something it’s going to be like this was a moot point to begin with but it does feel like it’s a little bit far into this process to not have out a single guy for that seventh pick I mean the draft is three weeks from Wednesday so we’re kind of running out of time right I like you said that still could happen but um just seems like there’s no sense of urgency to do these workouts or yeah you still got to workout guys for those second round picks you still got to workout guys for the 14th picks the 14th pick doet jerisich kesan George there’s a number of guys that you you can work out for that 14th pick that they haven’t yet so when are they going to do that I don’t know I don’t know hopefully they ratchet up workouts um uh like once again not reading too much into this it’s just a little interesting to note yeah so Grace says maybe if you work out someone in the top three it would Telegraph a deal there make it the seventh pick there like Tori just said there’s only two consensus right now top two picks and that’s R who’s I believe still playing overseas and not doing workouts same with Salon um and then uh Alex SAR is not going to come here and work out because he’s not falling to seven so um and the Blazers went and saw him play in person in the NBL so um they got a bit of an up close look at him anyway um you know maybe the G League guys uh there was some video or something that showed Blazer Scouts in a practice of the G League uh maybe they feel like they have a good feel for those guys already but I mean that the whole G League ignite think was so dysfunctional though like you should want to run these guys through your own workout just for due diligence so I do not buy that but why yeah why what would be the point of not wanting people to come work out like or is just everyone turning us down or something Ian I don’t know uh yeah I mean I’m pretty sure Castle wouldn’t come here but um other than him there’s there’s really no one that should be not working out for teams I mean bronny not working out for teams it’s so dumb like he’s he’s a borderline undraftable guy if it wasn’t for the circumstance of maybe you get LeBron if you draft him um so like that guy is going to say I’m not working out and then this is my guy but I cannot stand this Tory I think it’s stupid and I think it just to me this shows a real lack of I don’t know what the right word is competitiveness or just whatever like donon Holmes isn’t working out for teams anymore because apparently he got a promise somewhere towards the end of the first round it’s like so okay you got a promise in the like the mid 20s or something you don’t want to go try to get a better draph Pi than that and show other teams that you’re you could maybe be a fringe Lottery PR pick or like late teens or something like it it makes no sense man I I don’t understand why you would just stop working out because you got a late first round pick promise like I mean maybe it’s a good organization that he wants to go to and he feels like will develop him properly he’ll get the opportunity like if if New York might be losing hartenstein this off season and Promises him and like he’ll have a chance of getting minutes right away on a good team with a good point guard that’ll make him look good like I I can’t blame him too much for shutting it down because he wants to play there but then New York signs hartenstein and they have Mitchell Robinson and hartenstein in front of him and he never plays I mean listen any place he goes there’s a chance he doesn’t play so it’s more so situation like um I heard it was Denver that gave him the promise yeah I mean Denver Boston like there’s some good teams down there that he might want to go to and I couldn’t really blame him for wanting to go there compared to maybe some teams that are higher because ultimately like yes you’re going to get paid a little bit more for going higher but your second contract is what really matters right so in in side note I did look up Ron Holland Cody Williams Matas buellis and um T is still playing I think so he wouldn’t be working out but those first three I haven’t I did not find a single article about them working out for anyone yet so I believe for that seventh pick it’s uh more so players have not worked out yet so I thought I saw baz worked out for someone yeah I mean he might have I just looked at Google News basically so um I guess just normally those top prospects don’t they start this process a little bit quicker I don’t know I thought it would start a little bit quicker because a lot of these top prospects have wider draft ranges than the top of a draft so therefore should be working out for more themes therefore should be working out a little bit earlier but who knows we’ll talk about it when it happens like I said they’ll probably start here any day now um working out some guys that are in the range of the seventh pick and I’m really looking forward to it yeah but also with the case of Don Holmes it it’s not guaranteed that he lasts till the end of the first round either so like I just seems kind of weird another team could still take him yeah I mean I so somebody like that shutting it down because he has a promise and I assume it’s a place he wants to go to which is why he shuts it down I have a hard time like nitpicking him too much because it’s like he wants what he wants I’m not him you know what I mean I’m mhm like he wants what he wants for whatever reasons those might be and I just try and like respect him right like he wants some of it might be I mean I think I put myself in the shoes of a prospect there’s certain places I wouldn’t want to live right I like the Northwest climate I wouldn’t like a desert climate you know what I mean like there’s some places where guys probably just don’t want to live you’re going to be living there if you’re a first round pick potentially for the next four or five years so there’s a lot that goes into it for Prospect so if they shut it down because they get a promise from a place they want to be I can’t fault them too much even if it’s maybe a little bit lower than they otherwise could go if they worked out at some other places I don’t even like that for the top guys let alone a guy who I don’t like guys trying to dictate where they’re going when they’re is he dictating where he’s going if a team told him okay we’re gonna pick you here no I’m saying like like so what like RG RG James says uh maybe that team told him work out for elsewhere and the guarantee is off like I don’t that’s also possible but why would I don’t know to me I would say I would not like a contingent thing I would be like dude if you like me why are you scared me working out elsewhere like I I understand you want me to be here like him they probably think he’s going to impress other teams if they gave him a promise right yeah but then that should tell tell them that they’re much higher possibly they could shoot up higher than than where where you are yeah yeah but I mean like you couldn’t see there being a team at 20 that gives you a promise where it’s like okay I want to go there compared to like a team at 14 or 15 where it’s like I’d rather go 20th to that situation compared to 14th or 15th to a different situation yeah I understand if if a team promises you that’s one thing if you’re on the board I’ll we’ll draft you here one they don’t have to honor that promise um they could always yeah but you know it’s agans is like you give a prospect a word like that you’re you’re screwing with somebody’s like career the start of their career right if you give him a promise should be honored yeah but like what if uh I don’t know just weird example okay let’s just say at three Houston promises uh buellis or someone that they’re going to take him if he’s on the board and then Donovan Clingan and Zachary rishe go one two I mean you should be promising someone if there’s somebody you would take ahead of him at three like that’s just stupid bad business like right well maybe but like people follow like Whitmore last year like how how could you how could you I mean like if you’re sitting there like Miami I’m pretty sure promised takz last year at 18 um because he stopped working out uh what happens if they were like oh crap Whitmore was like rated fifth on our board we didn’t think we promised thinking that this is there’s no way he’d be on the board and then he’s on the board and you’re like oh crap we do we take the better player or keep our promises yeah but I mean we can argue whether or not team should give promises or not at the end of the day you give a promise you give a promise right so it’s it’s bad it’s a really bad look for an organization to give a promise and then go back on that promise so I feel like this conversation is more so maybe organizations shouldn’t give promises the way they give promises but that’s what they do aren’t you the guy who said that if you were a GM you’d tell a team you weren’t you’re bringing up something from like four years ago I’m just saying like and also there is there was context behind it that I don’t even know exactly what it was but it wasn’t quite that so I just don’t see the need to to rehash something that neither remember and also I remember I remember what it was the context I’m sure I’m sure you don’t um but also four years ago okay is four years ago people change in four years Eric so okay I’m just okay that’s good basically the whole conversation is about would you shut it down if you got a promise or is it a bad look to shut it down if you get a promise correct you don’t think it looks good on donon Holmes I just I don’t necessarily think it looks bad on him I just I don’t understand the mindset of not wanting cuz there is a lot of money between like 25th and 15th or something you know like um and like Taylor said earlier if their mindset right now is not just like I want to get in the league and do the best possible job can it’s more like oh I want to live in this fun city or you know like I mean everybody’s going to have preferences and it’s not just like it’s not just about like oh I want to live in Portland because they have the most strip clubs per capita and I just want to go to the strip club every night right like yes that’s a bad look you don’t want somebody coming into the league valuing how many strip clubs you have in your city but when it’s like basketball situations too like that’s ultimately going to matter um um the difference between like 16 and 30 is like 1.5 million um I don’t think Holmes was going to go in the lottery maybe he would have if he worked out I don’t know but end of the day like a lot of guys when they accept promises it’s because it’s like near the top of their expected draft range and if it’s a situation they like who who was the promises last year well I’ve seen uh Holmes I mean this is all mock drafts but I’ve seen him in the teens and some mock drafts and he might have gotten promised in the teens who knows yeah because didn’t hawz get promised and he yeah so hakas got promised at 18 really good situation for him he looked good as a rookie right and that was like near the top of his expected range that was he was like a second round guy so like that to me that’s different I mean he was in like some late first I feel like he’s pretty close donon Holmes yeah he was not going any higher than that most likely I yeah I mean but that’s the thing Holmes might have gotten a promise I don’t remember if he stopped working out or not or if that was I mean most guys when they get a promise they stop working out because that’s the only reason the promise gets talked about in the first place it’s like oh this guy canceled all his workouts so he has a promise there was someone late in the first that had a promise that didn’t work out for any teams he had like a promise really early on I forget who it was was either last year or the year before in the team maybe someone a CH room no it was he didn’t go until like he was expected to be that Fringe first or the second type player I I forget who it was it’s vely familiar but I also who it was from like the combine he said he wasn’t going to work out with any teams cuz he already chat if you can jog our memory past couple of years yeah I do remember a situation like that um but I don’t know like without knowing the situation without knowing how high the pick is MH it’s tough to it’s tough for me to hold it against them you know if he comes out here and gets drafted like 35th then it’s like okay well why didn’t you work out for other teams because you could have gotten a guaranteed contract which if he has a promise from a team like 31 32 whatever then it probably comes with a fully guaranteed or first two years guaranteed contract like a first round pick right um and I mean I don’t know there is a chance I think a small chance but there is a chance he falls to the second round and wouldn’t get a guaranteed contract so that might be a reason for accepting the promise uh just because it comes with a guaranteed contract for the first couple of years um there’s just so much that could go into why he might shut it down with a promise that tough for me to judge him um you know if he gets drafted in a certain certain place or doesn’t get a contract with as much guaranteed money as I feel like he should get for accepting a promise then you know I’ll question okay why exactly did he accept the promise um that’s just kind of that’s just kind of how I view some of these promises um I don’t think it’s Portland that gave him the promise I would have liked for him to work out for Portland I would have liked for that um did chat help us out was it below no it’s this was like someone in the lake dang it thank you I I literally I literally asked him nicely not to but he can’t listen anyway um go on um yeah people are just naming former Blazers for some reason it’s not Jaylen Wilson maybe it was Jaylen Wilson I don’t know maybe it was Jaylen Wilson because then he ended up going maybe it was dalen Terry no because some guys got promises but this guy it was like a late pick anyway I don’t know who it was I don’t know who it was um I also just got an interesting text that I can’t really share okay Eric there’s been a there’s been a rumor that has popped up including your Portland Trailblazers and it’s that they are interested in trading up for Donovan kingan trading up not just waiting at seven but trading up amongst a couple other teams the other teams that were named were Memphis and then I forgot the third one who’s the third one Chicago Chicago so Chicago at 11 Memphis at nine Portland at seven three teams interested in trading up for Donovan kingan do you believe this rumor and if this rumor is true how do you feel about it I believe the Blazers do have interest in Donovan kingan uh I just I think it’d be like the weirdest thing ever if they traded up in this draft like considering what Travis deur said about the team being somewhat relieved um I know you talked about this in your um five storyline video go check that out after the show um it would just be really weird if their relieve to get the pick and then they trade back up to the third pick which has you have to pay more or whatever pick we traded up to now maybe dumping salary is part of that but I don’t know just it seems it seems odd that even if that was their intentions like why is it leaking that that’s that’s their intentions and then on top of all that you have DeAndre Aon who like is not the most mentally stable player to say the least and I’d be really concerned if that happened or this was true what that would do to his mental uh state if we did not have a trade lined up for him already which uh who knows if we did or didn’t um so I don’t know to me everything about it screams doesn’t make sense this has to be a smoke screen and then you think about why would it be a smoke screen and there’s two things I can think of as to why the Blazers would want it out there that they’re interested in Donovan kinging one would be they don’t want kingan to be the player out of the top six or seven that falls to seven so they’re trying to convince someone to move up ahead of them whether it’s Memphis or Chicago or some other team that if they want kinging you better jump Portland to get him thus guaranteeing that one of their other six guys on the board their draft board would fall to S to them and then they’re like okay now we don’t have to decide to take cling in here at 7 or the other scenario which could happen is if Clingan is on the board at seven they have someone in mind that they think they could get at N9 or 11 or one of those other picks maybe like a Cody Williams and so that they’re trying to convince those teams that they need to give Portland an additional asset or take on some salary so we can move back a couple spots still get the guy we wanted to take anyway and a team like Memphis that has the capability of possibly doing that um so if it’s a smoke screen I guess it would be for one of those two reasons in my opinion but man I just it all comes back to me like this organization hasn’t done a lot of logical things or had a plan or any sort of like I don’t have any belief that they think these things thoroughly out before acting upon some of them so like I could totally see them just being like Oh yeah we want CL and like uh we need Rim protection and don’t care about how he fits or what’s going to happen with Aon or any of that stuff they’re just kind of going to wing it if they get him and trade up and and worry about their cap situation later and all this kind of stuff like I don’t I don’t understand what they do half the time so I don’t I all this to say I don’t really know Tori I I don’t think kingan Falls to seven there’s just too much noise about teams taking him above us and he makes sense for Charlotte he makes a ton of sense for Washington where I could see a scenario where Washington isn’t fully sold on Reet and wants clinging And Trades down to four with San Antonio and San Antonio trades up from four to two to take Reay right because if Reay Falls past two then he’s probably going three to Houston where with sangu is Houston going to be the team to take kingan Washington if they want kingan can trade down a couple spots get some assets I don’t know but dude at this point I wouldn’t be shocked if K kingan goes to to Washington there’s just there’s just so much Buzz um that I feel like it’s legitimate interest from Portland’s end and I feel like it’s legitimate interest from memphis’s end um Detroit is a team I could see trading back I think that dalon connect is a guy for them that makes a lot of sense but do you want to take him at five if you can trade down to nine you can probably get him at nine maybe San Antonio takes him at a I don’t know I just knowing this organization this feels like the type of thing that they would do just and this is just like purely gut feeling it feels like if they can use Brogden to trade up from seven to three to guarantee themselves to Donovan kinging they’ll do it and basically you’re just sitting there like okay you really got nothing back for clinging in my mind because I don’t think or you sorry I misspoke you didn’t get anything back for Brogden if you trade seven in Brogden for three you’d have to take back some filler salary because kingan I don’t think is a top seven player in this draft I just don’t he had foot issues skill-wise like he can pass a little bit but he’s not somebody you’re going to really give the ball to he’s just a play finisher defensively yes he projects as a guy that should be a good rim protector but can he be a great rim protector the only way you take him top seven is if you are very confident he can be a future top five six rim protector in the league because he’s not going to be a super switchable big man he’s not going to be a big man where a ton of his defensive value is oh he’s going to switch out and keep a point guard in front of him I don’t think he’s completely cooked if he gets switched out onto a guard but his defensive value comes in playing a lot of drop he hopefully can play other schemes but you’re probably going to be playing a lot of drop with him I don’t like taking a big top seven whose best defensive cover drop scheme because even the best drop bigs with the way the guards are getting in today’s leagues in today’s League they can shoot off the dribble so freaking well from three from mid-range there’s more space on the floor because you have more and more guys that can shoot so you don’t want your big having to guard a bunch of space in the mid-range and being put on an island and then you know leaning forward when he’s supposed to be running drop because he’s scared of these Elite guards in the league shooting pullup jumpers and it’s just one simple hesi and a blowby and even Donovan kingan ain’t catching up to that if he’s leaning forward because he’s worried about a pullup and one of these guards Blows By Blows By him so I just think there’s a lot of question marks with him he’s gonna be a solid role player but it’s hard to be confident in him being like a true Game Changer so I don’t think he’s a top seven pick so if you trade Brogden hypothetically with seven up to three with Houston just to take a guy that I probably wouldn’t take a seven I’m going to be very disappointed in that and there’s going to be people out there saying oh look we uh this is why we kept Brogden this is why we held on to Brogden but I don’t think we were not trading brogen at the deadline thinking about Donovan kingan and also if Aon is the guy that you have so much faith in how does it signal to him that you have faith in him if you draft a Center seventh and if you’re planning on keeping Aon and kingan you moved up for a backup center that doesn’t make sense either exactly and if you plan on playing eighton and clinging together oh that’s just stupid no but but dude they tried playing Robert Williams the third Nan together this year I could see them I mean just pure speculation I could see a world in where they’re sitting here thinking we can play Eight in at the four and clinging at the five because a can shoot mid-range I I don’t know it’s absurd I hope that’s not their plan but I just it’s very weird if they value kinging this much because that says to me they don’t value eight and long term clinging can back them up for a year or two but it’s like why are you keeping ating around in the first place if you’re just going to let him walk when he’s a free agent in two years because you invested a potential top five pick in Donovan kingan yeah unless you have a trade lined up but I mean it seems very unlikely that they’re even looking at moving it right now right what teams would even I don’t know I don’t know cling and love cling and love from Portland’s end makes no sense to me from from both from both the player not belonging in the top five and you got DeAndre well like at least people are saying in chat at least it’s not a guard there um I’d almost ra Eric I’d almost rather them be interested in a guard that could play either guard spot because then you could talk about okay maybe down the line you trade well you got to trade Brogan but maybe down the line you trade ant and you got your third guard that’s maybe if they can fit and play both guard spots and guard both guard spots like okay maybe that’s a better third guard compliment behind sharp and Scoot I can see that argument more than yeah we love eight and Eight’s the prize of the Dame trade and now we’re going to draft somebody that can also only play center that’s probably never going to be a star only going to be a role player just doesn’t make sense does not make sense yeah well see to me okay and I am not saying that scoot is anywhere going to be anywhere close to what Luca is but if you project scoot out if you’re trying to maximize him as the best possible point guard he can be I think if you paired him with a super quick uh quick jumping lob Target that not only can can quickly jump and finish a lot of different angled lobs but if you watch Derek Lively in particular and gafford’s pretty close to this they set a screen and get to the hoop in like a second like they Zoom from the three-point line all the way down to the paint and get there really quickly kinging I don’t think even though if around the rim can finish lobs he doesn’t have the speed and quickness to maneuver from a screen setting position all the way to the hoop in in a quick enough fashion to really be as effective as a lively is with Luca and I think scoot if he’s going to maximize his his driving and stuff like that either needs a big who can shoot three uh like a lot of three like a porzingis type Setter who um does that or you need to get him a loved Target big who is very quick and is always around the rim and he can just Huck it up from wherever he’s at like Luca does and that you know that he’s going to be there in finish and can develop some chemistry along the way whatever but to me it’s already kind of tough when you have Aon always around the middle of the paint that’s always where he’s camped out so every time uh or just about every time scoot drives you have Aon somewhere around the free throw line or in that area um and so I think for me I would want to see scoot with a different prototype Center than a um Center like kingan or a center like Aon ultimately and then also on defense none of these guards or point of attack Defenders maybe Kamar can be this way but none of them have shown any capability of navigating screens and if you’re going to play Drop coverage like we pretty much had to with eighton a lot this year um it it’d be even more so with with kingan like you mentioned um we don’t have any guards who can get through screens so we’re we’re already screwed on defense scheme wise because we can only play Drop for the most part and yeah he could be the best rim protector in the league but if we’re constantly putting him in situations where he has to choose between a downhill uh attacker with the ball and guarding your guy who’s ready for a lob if you leave him for a second we’re our defense is going to be near the bottom of the league

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